Reducing Food Loss And Waste, Report Says How Food Is Wasted

A new report titled "Reducing Food Loss And Waste" by the World Resources Institute (WRI) with the support of the Rockefeller Foundation has quantified global food wastage. Here is how Food wastage affects our economy and environment.

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Nearly one-third of the food that is produced globally each year goes uneaten, costing the global economy over $940 billion, which is approximately 67.75 lakh crores in Indian rupees. If redistributed with proper planning this can end hunger in the whole world.

Food Loss Vs Food Waste:

Food loss is the raw food lost near form before cooking, due to spoiling, rotten, etc. Whereas, Food Wasted is food lost after cooking/made ready to be eaten. In lower-income countries most of the food loss happens near the farm and at the same time, most of the food waste happens near the plate in higher-income countries.

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Roots and tubers are the food groups that face the maximum wastage, at over 62% for 2007, Fruits and Vegetables follow it with wastage over 41%. When viewed as a proportion, by weight, of all the food estimated to be lost and wasted globally, Fruits and Vegetables make up the largest share of total annual food loss and waste.

The uneaten food is responsible for emitting about 8% of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, Combined with the food which is lost this pollution numbers will be much higher. There are other environmental costs involved in the form of resources this wasted food consumed for their production which is a direct unnecessary load on the environment.

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This report put forward a Global Action Agenda that calls for developing strategies nationally for food loss and food waste reduction by creating public-private partnerships. Food loss can be reduced completely by creating supply chain and cold storage systems. This will also help farmers to sell their products without any wastage at the farm, directly increasing rural income and rural growth in developing countries like India. 

Food loss at the farm can be diverted to Biofuel generation, on the other hand, food wasted at the plate can be diverted to poor as part of social schemes. Processed and Ready-To-Eat food with cold storage chains can also reduce food wastage at the plate.